There are two main places to find out the eligibility criteria and whether you are eligible:
- All the eligibility criteria are listed in the person specifications.
- The Am I eligible? section of this website gives detailed information about each area of eligibility.
Beyond this, if you have a specific question which is not covered in the sources above, you can contact the PSRO with your query.
All four UK nations: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, are participating in the nationally coordinated HST recruitment process.
Please note that Northern Ireland only participates for clinical genetics, medical oncology, neurology and palliative medicine in the national process. Please see the NIMDTA website for information about applying to train in Northern Ireland in other specialties.
Summary information about each region is available in the regions section of the website, including links for more information. Contact information for each region can also be found in this section.
All HST posts are recruited to at ST3 (Group 2 specialties) or ST4 level (Group 1). There is no national recruitment into specialty above these levels, however, it may still be possible for candidates to have previous experience taken into account.
After appointment, and depending on experience it may be deemed appropriate for some candidates to progress more quickly through their training programme. However, this is solely at the discretion of the employing region, and all decisions will be made after appointment and are no part of the recruitment process.
The JRCPTB website has more information on the possibility of taking into account previous experience.
If you want to discuss this you will need to contact the recruiting region.
Please note that it is difficult to predict the level of competition as things can change from year to year.
However, there is various information on the website with data from previous years to give an indication about potential competition. This can all be found on the ‘Data’ section of each specialty’s page:
- Competition ratios - application numbers submitted to the specialty alongside the vacancy numbers and resulting competition ratios for previous years
- Shortlist scores – the average application score and the distribution of scores nationally. For specialties where you can submit regional preference at time of application, data on the minimum scores to qualify for interview at each region are also published
- Total scores - the average total score awarded after the full recruitment process (application and interview), including a graph showing the distribution of scores nationally
- Post fill-rates - the number of posts available and the number filled by region in both rounds and overall.
Post numbers are published to each specialty's page of this website, broken down by region. Provisional post numbers will be published just prior to the application opening date where possible. However, please note that post numbers are subject to change and on average will increase 20-40% through the recruitment round from applications opening to offers being made.
Each specialty's 'data' tab shows final post numbers at the end of each round dating back to 2013. This can be used as a guide, however, post numbers at HST level are very variable, particularly within a single region and for smaller specialties, so please treat post number data with caution.
If you want to work less than full time (LTFT), you progress through the recruitment process in the same way as all other applicants. Offers are made on the basis of a full time programme and you make your request to your employing region once you accept an offer.
All regions are committed to helping those with who have well-founded reasons for wanting to train on an LTFT basis. The Gold Guide contains more information.There is a national ‘special circumstances’ policy which apply in specified circumstances. This applies to applicants where either:
- the applicant is the primary carer for someone who is disabled, as defined by the Equality Act 2010
- the applicant has a medical condition or disability for which ongoing follow up for the condition in the specified location is an absolute requirement
Within the resource bank of Oriel, there is an Oriel Applicant User Guide that has been developed to give you a better understanding of the Oriel system and explains how the system can be used to enable your application process.
If after using this you are still experiencing issues; you can email the PSRO helpdesk. This includes if your account is locked due to too many failed password attempts.
If necessary your issue will be forwarded by the PSRO to the Oriel support team for investigation and you will be updated with progress.
There is not a formal linking process or function on the system.
The advice is to select the same regions and ordering of programme preferences. You can also bear in mind the likely competition for each region in relation to how you think you and your partner will do; for example it will be more difficult for you to both receive an offer in London than in some other regions. Data from previous years is available from the relevant specialty's page.
Additionally the system has been designed so that after offers are received it is possible to re-order your preferences to improve your chances of being offered the same region. For example:
- you are offered region A and your partner region B
- if it looks unlikely your partner is going to rank highly enough for region A you could change your preferences so that region B is now ranked above region A.
- it is then possible that during the offering period, region A could be upgraded to region B
- alternatively you could both re-order your preferences to make region C your first choices so you could both be upgraded to this.
If necessary please contact the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office for advice.
A trainee is now able to apply for an Inter-deanery transfer (IDT) having not yet started a post – but you must have been made and accepted an offer.
You must also have a minimum of 12 calendar months left in training at the earliest point of transfer for your IDT request to be considered.
Inter-deanery transfers are only possible if the proposed destination region has a vacant slot that can accommodate your remaining training requirements. Not all approved transfers will actually be able to transfer.
There are further requirements to be eligible for this process, listed in the trainee guide to inter-deanery transfers available from the specialty training website’s resource bank.
Please bear this in mind when identifying your preferred choices of region when applying to HST.
Inter-deanery transfers are nationally coordinated; the MDRS Specialty Training website has details about the scheme.
The Gold Guide states that:
"...the start of training may only be deferred on statutory grounds (eg maternity leave, ill-health)."
This includes a period of illness or maternity leave taken during core training prior to making an application. Where applicants are unable to achieve competence on time, they may still be permitted to defer whilst they complete the time/competences missed. Extended training will need to be organised in the current post to cover the time that was missed.
If your particular circumstances will make it necessary for the start date of any post offered to you to be deferred or delayed but are not covered by the text above, then please contact the region concerned.
Upon receiving an offer, you should contact your employing region to ensure they are aware of your desire to defer your start date and ensure this will be permissible. The final decision on whether a start date can be deferred is at the discretion of the region where you will be starting work.
Your Oriel PIN is the second-to-last number of the Application ID (discounting the zeros at the start), for example in the full application ID given below, the PIN would be 2368.
PSRO-IMT/21-22/PWY/0106527625/IMT-1-R1A/00000 2368/00630
Your Oriel PIN is also located in the summary section of your Oriel Dashboard in the top left-hand corner.
This will depend on the stage at which this happens. In general, your first approach should be to contact either the region managing your application, which will be confirmed on the 'Who do I contact section?' of each specialty's page or the Physician Specialty Recruitment Office. You should contact as soon as possible after the event as, the later it is the less likely it is that a resolution can be found.
However, if you think something has gone wrong at interview, it is very important that you raise it on the day. The interview host will provide details of how to get in touch if this is the case and when you must contact by for it to be able to be addressed. Raising it straight after the interview will give the best possible chance to investigate and resolve the issue. It is unlikely to be possible to do anything subsequently; you should not wait until scores are confirmed and offers are made.
If you are not satisfied with the response given to your issue you can make a formal complaint or appeal. Whilst we will try and resolve issues before a formal complaint is necessary, if you feel that you wish to do this then please ensure you read the complaints and appeals policy to find out how to do this.